Wreck of the Ragamuffin

As remembered in 1926

Twas the fourteenth of November, 
That day I well remember,
When I set sail to go to foreign parts, 
I shipped with Burke, the skipper 
Of a fine three-masted clipper,
And left my friends behind with broken hearts.
We were bound out to Calcutta,
With a load of Belfast butter,
We had whisky, eggs, and bacon in galore;
Of passengers we had twenty,	•
And begorra that was plenty,
To tell the truth, that ship would hold no more. 	..

For the wind began to howl,
And the ship began to rowl,
A thundering great big hurricane did blow
It knocked out all the stuffing
From our ship, the "Ragamuffin"	
And we thought to the bottom we would go, brave boys,	
And we thought to the bottom we would go


To start we weighed the anchor
And hoisted jib and spanker
A tug boat pulled us by the Hill of Howth, 
With our pilot then we parted,
And in our course we started,
Our compass pointed east, nor'-west by south
At three o'clock next morning
Without a taste of warning.	
A blackguard of a gale began to blow
It tore our sails asunder.
And then a clap of thunder	
Knocked Pat and James Maloney down below

For sixteen hours we bore it,
The gale took us before it,
And carried off our main top-gallant boom,
One forecastle was shattered,
And our figure-head was battered,
And the water washed away our main saloon,
For thirteen hours we drifted, 
And then the cargo shifted.
The captain cried, "Put on your Ulster coats,
I've come to a decision, 
As we've plenty of provisions 
Let every mother's son jump into the boats"